In an end
of the year analysis of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, the Associated Press
states that one of the political “misses” of Snyder’s first year was he “failed
to get the GOP-led House to approve spending federal dollars to develop a state
health exchange where individuals and small businesses could shop for health
insurance.”

Although the AP considers it a failure for the Snyder
Administration, many limited-government proponents believe that it is a good
thing the exchange was not created.

Health care exchanges are health care plans
regulated by a state where residents can purchase health insurance.

Jack McHugh, legislative analyst for the Mackinac Center for
Public Policy, said the federal government can create the health care exchanges
if states fail to do so. The exchanges are the instruments for which
Obamacare’s subsidies will be distributed, McHugh said.

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“Governors and state legislators have a duty to push back
against his infringement of Federalism,” McHugh said. “States have a duty to
push back when the Feds overreach, it is more than a political statement. It is
a constitutional statement. They are saying, ‘Feds – you went too far. And we
aren’t going to roll over and just take it.’ ”

Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute laid out why states
should not implement health care exchanges in Sept. 15 testimony
to the Missouri State Senate.

The state
would have enormous responsibilities in being a watchdog over the health
insurance carriers and running a “reinsurance program” and a “risk-adjustment” program, Cannon said. “The states don’t have the time to take on all the
responsibilities involved in creating the exchange."

Cannon argues that states don’t have the money to spend on
new bureaucracies.

“Every dollar that Missouri spends on an exchange is a
dollar it cannot spend on roads, education, or police — or more important, a
missed opportunity to spur economic recovery by reducing the tax burden,”
Cannon told the committee.

He also said it made little sense to create a new government
bureaucracy for a law that could soon be repealed. The United States Supreme
Court has stated it will rule on the constitutionality of Obamacare.

Cannon believes that state officials who set up health care
exchanges are setting themselves up to take the blame when Obamacare fails.

The Republican Party fully controls most states and at the national level has captured the House, Senate and presidency. By many measures, the party has more power than it has had in many decades. But will that control last? And, more importantly, what policy priorities are coming about from these political victories?

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